HOPATCONG — The state will pay a $100,000 settlement to a former seasonal worker at Hopatcong State Park who was shot in the thigh by a park ranger in 2005, according to the ex-ranger’s attorney.

Superior Court Judge Rosemary Ramsay, sitting in Morristown, ruled Tuesday that the state must pay the settlement, along with $87,000 in legal fees to the ex-ranger's attorney. She said the ex-ranger did not act with “willful misconduct,” so he won’t have to pay anything, according to the ex-ranger’s attorney.

Former ranger Barry G. Stewart was working at a ranger station in Roxbury at about 9:20 p.m. on June 13, 2005, when the seasonal worker, Jonathan Andrew Romeo, then 19, surprised him by coming into the station to check his work schedule, according to Stewart’s attorney, Anthony Arbore.

When Romeo raised his arms, Stewart thought he saw a weapon and shot Romeo once, Arbore said. Romeo was carrying a sheaf of papers.

A key witness, current Director of State Park Police Richard Arroyo, testified that Stewart’s action did not constitute “willful misconduct,” Arbore said.